Destiny's big changes in 2.0.0 update; How to get ready for The Taken King

Destiny: The Taken King launches next week and Bungie released the huge 2.0.0 update in preparation for it. This update made all the changes that The Taken King brings, so all we have to do is wait for the new content to unlock on 9/15 if you buy the expansion.

In the meantime, it is probably a good idea to brush up on all the changes: they are massive.

I won't list all the patch notes here, but I will go over the biggest, most significant changes and give tips and advice on how to prepare for The Taken King.

This guide will go over the big changes in the Destiny 2.0 update including:

Gear, Stat, and Light changes - Details on gear changes, new types of gear, how stats are different, and changes to the light system.

Quests, Bounties, and Story - Details on the new quest system, changes to bounties, and how the story is affected.

Vendor and Inventory Changes - Details on the Gunsmith, Speaker, and more.

Crucible Changes - Details on Crucible changes, including the preview event for a new mode.

Preparing for The Taken King - Tips on what to do before the launch on 9/15.

Gear, Stat, and Light Changes

These are huge changes, so let me break it down.

Player level and Light level are completely separate now.

You now get levels strictly from experience, and your light level is an average of all your equipped weapons and armor.

Players who were already past level 20 are converted to the level of their highest Light level gear.

Attack and Defense values on gear have been changed.

Armor and Weapon values are now the same to keep things simple and the max year 1 values are now 170.

Your weapons and armor are still as strong as they were, they are just changing the system.

New slots have been added.

There is a new artifact slot unlocked at level 40.

Ghosts and Class items now give defense values and are added to your average light level.

Stats display has changed.

Each stat, (intellect, strength, and discipline) now shows the total you have, the length of the cooldown, the tier level, and how much you need to get to the next tier.

There was also a huge weapon rebalancing that I won't post here, but you can read about in the official patch notes.

Quests, Bounties, and Story

Another big change is the introduction of the quest system. Year one activities have been converted to a quest system, which separates the story and other things into quest lines.

A new quest tab was added between roster and character on the menu.

You can now track quests and bounties by selecting track while hovering over them.

You can also hover over quests and press details to get more information on the quests, including the steps.

You now turn in bounties from the quest screen.

Bounty slots increased to 16.

All incomplete bounties before the update were abandoned, except for exotic bounties. These were auto-completed.

You can redo the story by going to the abandoned quests terminal near the class vanguards in the tower.